Nonstop flight route between Arrecife, Canary Islands, Spain and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Lanzarote Airport (ACE), Arrecife, Canary Islands, Spain and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,833 miles (or 7,778 kilometers).

A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between Lanzarote Airport and Ellsworth Air Force Base, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.

Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between Lanzarote Airport and Ellsworth Air Force Base. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Lanzarote Airport (ACE):

• Lanzarote Airport handled 5,334,598 passengers last year.
• In 1999 a new passenger terminal opened, with a capacity of 6 million passengers per annum.
• In addition to being known as "Lanzarote Airport", another name for ACE is "Aeropuerto de Lanzarote".
• The closest airport to Lanzarote Airport (ACE) is Fuerteventura Airport (FUE), which is located 37 miles (60 kilometers) SSW of ACE.
• The furthest airport from Lanzarote Airport (ACE) is Norfolk Island Airport (NLK), which is nearly antipodal to Lanzarote Airport (meaning Lanzarote Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Norfolk Island Airport), and is located 12,343 miles (19,865 kilometers) away in Norfolk Island, Australia.
• Lanzarote Airport (ACE) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Lanzarote Airport's relatively low elevation of 47 feet, planes can take off or land at Lanzarote Airport at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• In October 1960, Ellsworth entered the "Space Age," with the activation of the 850th Strategic Missile Squadron, initially assigned to the 28 BMW.
• The closest airport to Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA) is Rapid City Regional Airport (RAP), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) S of RCA.
• The base experienced one of its worst peacetime tragedies in March 1953 when an RB-36 and its entire crew of 23 crashed in Newfoundland while returning from a routine exercise in Europe.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• The furthest airport from Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,579 miles (17,026 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• In March 1944, heavy bomber operational training ended and the 225th Army Air Force Base Unit began training of replacement personnel for deployed heavy bombardment units in the overseas combat theaters.
• On 15 July 1945, the 225th AAFBU was inactivated and Rapid City AAB was placed on standby status as the Army Air Forces began to demobilize.